Electrical regulating system



F. W. SPRINGER ELECTRICAL REGULATING SYSTEIVIv Oct. 18, 1927.

Filed Feb.

VD] D2 Fig.3

gwuentoz Patented Oct. 18, 1 927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN WESLEY SPRINGER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA. Y

ELECTRICAL REGULATING SYSTEM.

1 Application filed February which the relay may be made to function atall times at its maximum efficiency and effectiveness, without preciseand troublesome adjustments.

Another object of the invention residesin using in conjunctlon with saidrelay means whereby -.the current or voltage may be quickly varied .as

required, without changes of the relay.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby thecharacter of the delivered current may be changedquicklyasdesired-without disturbing the relay adjustments, which meansmay bepositioned at the switchboard and operated by .remote control.

A still further object of the lnvent-ion'resides in providing means.whereby a constant current or voltage is delivered to the relayactuating coil from the line to be regulated,

fluctuations of which cause the relay to become operated; and inaddition to provide means for varying the current .or potential ot" thesources of electric supply, together with: means for controlling saidregulating meansso as to del'ver a normally constant voltage or cuirrentt the coil of said relay.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will be found in thedetailed description thereof and are particu'larlypointinvention appliedto a constant voltage, di

ed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating my "invention in one form: Y I Figure 1 isa wiring diagram showing my invention applied to a constant voltage, al-

. I ternating current system.

Figure 2 1s a wiring diagram showing the invention applied to a constantcurrent 211-' ternating current system.

Figure 3 1s a wiring dlagram showing my rect current system.-

Figure 4 is a wiring diagram showing my 15, 1924. Serial No. 693,035.

invention applied to a constant current, direct current system.

In the regulation of distribution systems em loying a relay for thispurpose it is big ly desirable to have the relay operate at the onesetting which makes the relay most eflicient and effective and producesthe best results. WVhen once this setting has been secured it ispreferable not to disturb the same. In ordinary systems if this settingdoes not give the exact degree of re ulation desired it becomesnecessary to read ust the relay until such a re ulation as is desiredcan be had. It does not always" follow that.

when the desired regulation 1 has been ob tained that the relay isoperatlng mostefl'ectively and efficiently. .VVith my invention the"relay may be set to so operate and the current or voltage thereafter"varied to pro; duce the results desired. v Q

My invention is particularly adapted to be used in conjunction withconstant voltage, alternating current systems and, may be so appliedthata number of different voltages.

may be secured from thesystem, which are at all times maintainedconstant.

, In the installationshown in Figure 1, I have illustrated a three-phasesup ly line L L and L which'may be .supplie by any three-phasegenerator,which is well known in the art and need not be illustrated inthis application, and which is adapted to supply a substantiallyconstant voltage varying within fixed limits depending upon the in-.herent characteristics of the machine, upon fluctuations of the speed.and upon fluctuations ofthe load taken care of by the same.

' The line L L L is connected to a regulat-ing'transformer R which inturn is connected to a distribution line 'D D and D bymeans of which theelectrical energy may be distributed to the oints to which the loads areto be supplied to thegsystem.

The transformer R may be of ordinary construction such. as illustratedin the drawing. This transformer consists of." three airs of primarycoils A A ,}B B C and 2 which may be, connected together in-series bymeans of leads 10, shown in full lines, The coils A '-A B 'B and C -Care mounted in fixed relation within the which are secured to as'haft*13 and are adapted to be rotated relative to the said I fixedcoils so that the relative interlinkage of the lines of force resultingfrom the field thereof may be varied at will by the rotation of shaft13to'vary the voltage or current in G forming the primary of theregulating transformer R are energized, which coils through theinductive properties of the transformer transfer the energy .to thecoils A, B and C which being connected in the lines L, L and L cause thevoltage of the sameto be increased or decreased depending upon therelative position of shaft 13 and t e coils E, F, G to said coils A, B,C. It can readily be seen that by proper positioning of the said shaftthat any desired voltage within the range of the device can be producedin line D -D D For operating the shaft 13 an electric motor M isemployed, which is diagrammatically indicated in the figure in which itis illustrated as having a gear 22 attached thereto, whichmeshes with agear 23 fast upon the shaft 13. As motor M rotates therelative positionsof the primaryvand secondary coils of transformer R are caused tobevaried so that the regulation desired may be obtained. For startingand stopping the motor M a switch S is employed which has four fixedcontacts 24, 25, 26 and 2'? and two movable contacts 28 and 29' adaptedto make contact therewith. The contacts 28 and 29 are insulated from andattached to two plunger-s 30 and 31 which are attracted by two magnetcoils 32 and 33 associated therewith.

The motor M isillustrated as a threephase motor, This motor M isconnected up to the switch S as follows: Three leads 34, 35 and '36 areshown, of which the leads 34 and 36 are directly connected to themovable contaets 28 and 29. The other lead 35 is directl connected tothe lead 1'? which is connecte to the line L The other two terminals ofthe lines 16 and 17 have connected to them two leads 37 and 38. The

lead 37 is connected to contact 24 and also to contact 26, while thelead 38 is connected i to contact 27 and to contact 25. With thisarrangement it can readily be understood that when the plunger 31 isattracted contacts 28 and 29are caused to come in contact with thecontacts 24 and 25, thereby cans ing the motor M to rotate in onedirection, and when the plunger 30 is attracted by the coil 33 thecontacts 28 and 29 are causedto come in contact with the contacts 26 and27, which causes the current in the two- "circuit 38,

r the movable M. to travel in the opposite direction, With thisarrangement the primary coils of'thetransformerR may be rotated ineither direction to increase or decrease the compenleads 34 and 36 to bereversed and the motor I sating effect of the secondary coils thereofbeing arranged at its other end to make contact with either of two fixedcontacts 42 and 43. The coil 41, as will be presently described, becomesactuated upon fluctuations of the line voltage, causing the arm A 39 tomake contact with either of the con tacts .42 or 43. In conjunction withthe contacts 42 and 43 I employ two coils 45 and 46 which have connectedin series with them a resistance 4} by means of leads 48 and 49. Thesecoils are further connected by leads 50 and 51 to the coils 32 and 33 ofthe switch S. In addition, two jumper leads 52 and 53 are employed whichare connected to the leads 51 and 50 at their points of contact to coils45 and 46 and which connect to the fixed contacts 42 and 43. By means ofthese jumper leads circuits can be made when the arm 39 is operatedwhich shunt these-coils and render the same, ineffective for the purposedesired. Coils 45 and 46 are adapted to attract the ends of the arm 39when energized and to thereby prevent the device from chattering andmaintain either the contact 42 or 43 closed durlng the period'over whichthe motor 1% is operating. A circuit 54-- 55 connects the arm 39 and anintermediate point on the resistance-47 with the conductors D and Drespectively of the mam line.

As the relayH is operated the following circuits are completed: WVhenarm 39 makes contact with contact 42.current flows from line D throughcircuit 54, arm 39, contact 42, jumper lead 52, lead 51, coil 33, ndcircuit 16 to L the effect of contact with the fixed contacts 27 and 26,thereby causing the motor M to operate and vary the angularity of themovable coils loo llU

Thishas energizing coil 33 which causes" contacts 28 and 29 to come inrelative to the fixed coils of the transformer R so as to alter theregulation on the line. At the same time a circuit ma be tracedsimilarly up through coil 33, t rough coil 32, back ,through :lead 50,coil 46, lead 49,

one-half of resistance 47, lead 55, back to line D This circuit, having,both coils 32 and 46 in it does not sufiiciently energize t either ofthese coils to actuate the same. At the same time a circuit may betraced through line 54,.arm 39, contact 42,,lead 52,

coil 45, line 48,'one-half of resistance 47 and line 55, back to line D.By means. of

this circuit coil 45 becomes 'suflicie'ntly energizedsothat the arm 39is attracted thereby and normally maintained closed, thereby Ipreventing chattering of said arm. As soon coils of transformer R,thereby altering the re lation to the required amount.

or energizing the coil 41 of relay H I employ a circuit 56-57 which isalso connected" to a compensating resistance 58.

This compensating resistance is connected by =means of a circuit 59-60to the secondary 61 of a transformer 62. The primary 63 of transformer62 is connected by means of a line 64-65 with two current transformers66-67 which are adapted to be operated in conjunction with the two linesD and D and which are'connected in parallel in the circuit 64-65. 1

In addition to the foregoing the line 56 I is directly connected to aportion of an auto transformer 68 "which is provided with a number oftaps 69 and 70 adapted to make contactwith two swlnging arms 71 and 72These arms are connected by means of a line 73-74 to' a transformer 75.which in turn is connected by a line 76-77 to the lines D and Dpreviously referred to. 'By this meansthe voltage on the line operatingthrough transformer 68 tends to vary the current through the coil- 41which varies the pull upon the lunger 40, thereby actuating arm 39 aspreviously described to control motor M. In addition, the two current.transformers 66 and 67 operating in conjunction with the I transformer62 and the compensating resistance, 58 serve to modifythe currentpassing through the coil 41 in roportion to the load carried by the line"-D If desired; the transformer 75 may be embodied in the transformer 68by the proper design and selec tion of the taps thereof.

In my invention the taps 69 may be ar: ranged so as 'toinclude ten timesas many turns as the taps 70, whereby any desired number of turns oftransformer 68 may be included between the arms 71 and 72. By

this means asubstantially' constant voltage may be maintained across theporti'onof the transformer 68 included in line 56, indicated 'at 78. rea'irdle'ss of the voltage of the line In the operation of the inventionthe re rapidly open and close lay H is first adjusted to secure the'bestand most effective-operating results by the adjustment of thecontacts 42and 43 rela tive to arm '39 and the other-variable. elements of thesame. After this has been attained by selection of the propertransformer 75 and by the manipulatio'n of the respective arms 71 and 72any desired volt'-' age can be secured at the end of lines D -D". Thisis effected as follows; If the arms 71 and 72 are set for a particularvolt-i age less than that secured by L -L -L the "voltage across theportion 78 of transformer 68 becomes considerably less than normal andthe arm 39 drops making contact with contact 43. This, as previouslydescribed, operates motorM to rotate the rotatable coils of transformerR until a bucking effect is produced upon the line D -D -D whichissuliicient to bring the voltage down to the required amount. .As soonas the voltage acrossthe portion. 78 of transformer 68flresumes thenormal operating volt-age then the arm. 39 immediately resumes itsneutral and normal position. Any fluctuation in the-Voltage delivered tothe line l) -D --D immediatly operates relay H in the same manner aswhen the voltage supplied to these lines is. the same as that receivedfrom the lines L -L -L If, on the other hand, a higher voltage than Ithat normally supplied from the line L- L -L is desired, arms 71 and 72are set (accordingly and the reverse action takes lace. v

It'will always be noted thatthe device comes to rest when the voltageacross the portion 78 of coil .68 becomes, normal and ,that b "theproper adjusting of the arms 71 an 72 any desired voltage within therange of the equipment can be had at' the ends of these llnes, which isfurther maintained constant by the regulatin meansand which may also becompensated for as the load is impressed upon the same.

,. In Figure 2 I have shown a system-simi maintaining in an alternatingcurrent system a constant current lnstead of a constant voltage as mFigure 1..- I have here shown an alternator 79 having an armature 80connected with a line 81-82 and a field coil 83' connected to an excitor84by means of a line 85. In the excitor circuit 85 is interposed aresistance 86 which is connect.- .ed by a circuit 87 to the armature 88of a relay 89. .-The relay 89, if desired, may be of the vibrating typewhich is adapted to the circuit 87 and 'to cut in and out the resistance86' so as to lar to Figure 1 which, however, is used for vary theexciting current to the field coil 83.

The'relay 89 is controlled by its coil 90 which is connected in acircuit 91 operated. through a current transformer 92 which is alsoconnected in the line 82. It will. be

notedthat a variable connection indicated at 93 is made with the currenttransformer 92 to the circuit 91 so that the number of turns of saidcurrent transformer included in this circuit may be varied at will. As

the current in the system varies the action of coil 90 upon armature 88is varied to secure the proper exciting current in the field coil 83 ofgenerator 79, thereby maintaining a constant current in the line 81- 82.When it is desired to alter the current in this line the movable orvariable contact 93 is shifted. This has the effect of changing thecurrent in the coil 90 which acts upon relay 89 to vary the current inthe line 81 -82 until the current in line 91 again resumes normal.' Viththis device the same aswith that shown in Figure 1,-

, voltage system similar to that shown in Figure 1 for a direct currentsystem. I 'here employ a line 94-95 connected to the armature 96 of adirect current generator9'7. The field coil 98 of this generator is alsoconnected across the line. 9495 but has connected in series with it aresistance 99. This resistance is adapted to be shunted by a circuit 100which connects with the armature 1010f aa'elay 102 similar to relay 89.The

coil 103 of this relay. is connected in a circuit 104 which has amovable contact 105 adapted to make contact with a'resistancer106 whichresistance is connected across the line 9495 and to the other end of theline 104. .As the voltage of line 9495 varies the current in line 104varies the same as the current in line 91, thereby actuating relay 102to cut in and out resistance 99 and so regulate the voltage of the line.Relay 102 is again ad- I justed to the most satisfactory operatingposition, after which the regulation is se-- cured by varying thecontact 105. I

As can readily e comprehended, my invention may also be used inconjunction with a constant current, direct. current system, suclr aninstallation being illustrated in F igure 4. In this case a resistance107 is employed instead of resistance 106,- Which is connected inseriesin the line 94 instead of acrossit As the current through the portion ofresistance 107 out in by contact 105 varies, the current through coil103 varies in like manner, and the 'same regulating effect is producedas with any other formation of the-invention. I

My invention is highly advantageous in that a system may be producedfrom which anydesirable constant voltage or current may be secured whichmay at all times be maintained constant regardless of fluctuations ofthe source of electric supply and the load conditions imparted upon thesystem. The system provided an installation where by the regulatingrelay may be operated at all times at its most efiicient andsatisfactory operating adjustment so that different currents or voltagesmay be quickly and positively secured without meddling or interferingwith the adjustment of the relay. This insures positive operation andregulation at all times with selectivity of voltages or currents withoutloss of time or annoyance. It may be further stated that my in ventionmay be positioned upon the switchboard or in close proximity with thedevices with which it is associated and the same operated by remotecontrol.

In accordance with the patent statutesI have described my invention,illustrating the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have itunderstood that the inventioncan be carried out by other means andappliedto uses other than those above set forth wit-hinthe scope of thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with an electric supply line for alternating current,means for altering the voltage thereof including a relayia circuit foroperating said relay, a vcltage transformer energized from said line and2. In combination with an electrical supply line for alternatingcurrent, means for altering the voltage thereof including a relay, acircuit for operating said relay, a variable transformer having aportion of the windingsthereof connected in said circuit, a secondcircuit, a potential transformer connected across said line and in saidsecond circuit, the variable windings of said "variable transformerbeing connected in said second circuit, and a "current transformerconnected in said line and to said first named circuit.

'3.. In combination with an electrical supply line for alternatingcurrent, l neans for altering the voltage thereof including a relay, acircuit for operating. said relay, a variable transformer having aportion of one of the windings thereof connected in series in saidcircuit, a second circuit, a potential means connected-across saidcurrent trans-.

former and in said first named circuit.

4. In combination with an electrical supply line for alternatingcurrent, means for altering the voltage thereof including a relay, acircuit for operating said relay. a variable transformer having avariable primary and a fixed secondary, the secondary thereof beingconnected in said circuit and the primary thereof being energized fromsaid line.

5. In combination with an electrical supply line for alternatingcurrent, means for altering the voltage thereof including a relay, acircuit for operating said relay, and a variable potential transformerconnected in said circuit and across said line.

6. In combination with an electric supply line for alternating current,.a regulating transformer connected thereto having a movable coil,meansvfor operating said movable coil, a relay for controlling saidoperating means, a circuit for operating said relay energized from saidline, an auto transformer having some of the turns thereof connected insaid circuit, a number of taps formed on other of said turns and meansfor adjustably connecting any of said transformer taps with said'line.

7. In combination with an electric supply line for alternating current,a regulating transformer connected thereto having a movable coil, meansfor operating said movable coil, a relay for controlling said operatingmeans, a circuit for operating said relay energized from-said line, atransformer connected in said circuit and energized from said line andmeans for adjusting the ratio of the primary and secondary of saidtransformer to adjust the action of said relay upon said movable coil{controlling means of said regulating transformer.

8. In combination with an electric supply line for alternating current,means for altering the voltage there f, including a relay, a circuit foropera 'ng said relay energized from said line, an auto transformer havmgsome of the turns thereof connected to said circuit, a number of tapsarranged lay, a circuit for operating said relay. a voltage transformer,a circuit connected across said line containing the primary of said"oltage transformer. a variable transformer, a circuit containing theprimary of said variable transformer and the secondary of said voltagetransformer, the secondary of said variable transformer being connectedin said relay circuit. a current transformer connected in said line,and' means connected in said relay circuit and to said currenttransformer for compensating for line load.

10. In combination with an electrical supply line for alternatingcurrent, means for altering the voltage thereof including a relayadapted to operate at a fixed voltage, a circuit for operating saidrelay, and a variable potential transformerconnected in said circuit andacross said line.

FRANKLIN WESLEY SPRINGER.

